April 15, 2018 (Vista, Calif.): Normally you would have to peel Fast Eddy Maurin’s hands off the steering wheel of his Woodstuff Chaparral Class 1 car. Just like when Lightning Larry Ragland gained notoriety in the car back in the 1980’s, the sweet sound and snappy throttle response of the Porsche engine out back is hard to resist. The reason why Eddy will be racing a Ford F-350 instead of his Chaparral this year is simple; Eddy and Lucas Hand wanted to have fun together at "The Happiest Race On Earth!", instead of taking turns in the single seat car.

Lucas Hand comes from a racing family. His Grandfather Walt Lott was a race promoter who established several sanctioning bodies starting back in the 1970’s, and was chief race steward, and an organizer, for Del Webb’s Mint 400 Desert Race. Lucas grew up around race cars and knows how to drive and wrench on them. He is also known to pop up almost anywhere with a party in tow.

“We are bringing down a bunch of newbies with us this year,” said Lucas Hand, “We have Billy Worthing, Layne Knetch, Vic Martin, Robby Woolworth; We built the truck because it has two seats; you have to share Baja. Mike from Wicked did the trailing arms in the rear and Tri-Ace Tires, King shocks, Ultra Wheels, Fast Eddy’s by Cookshack, Worthing, Dirtbagz, and Miller Signworks are all helping out. The truck has a 460 big block and is huge! We are very serious about having fun. In fact, we have an extra truck we are bringing down just to provide catering. If there was only one race a year I could do, it would be NORRA.”

(Above) Lucas Hand (l) and Fast Eddy Maurin (r) looking to share the fun in Baja this year with a bunch of newbies in the below Ford F-150 (photo courtesy of Lucas Hand).

Fast Eddy and Lucas are both experts when it comes to having fun. Eddy raced offroad in his youth, and then went on to become a barbecue champion. His success in cooking competitions led to his signature line of grills. Cookshack and Fast Eddy's BBQ joined forces and created the Fast Eddy’s by Cookshack line of pellet fired smokers. No matter how many cooking competitions he won, Eddy still longed for the feel of dirt under his tires, and the beauty of Baja all around him. Once Eddy discovered the NORRA Mexican 1000, he found exactly what he was looking for.

Fast Eddy and Lucas are just your average NORRA competitors. They like to go fast, have fun, and enjoy Baja. NORRA delivers all three without the lack of sleep, breakneck pace, and stress of other Baja races. NORRA has timed stages with stop-overs each night. Competitors have a chance to run at race speeds during the day, and enjoy the beauty, culture, and food of Baja each night. With a class for everyone, including vintage cars, Bikes, UTV’s and modern race cars, chances are you have something in your garage that will fit into a class. If you’d like to compete with Fast Eddy, Lucas, or the legends, professional racers, and adventure seekers who come back every year, go to www.norra.com and find out how you can get involved.

Beginning in 2010, the National Off Road Racing Association (NORRA) began promoting a rebirth of the NORRA Mexican 1000 rally. The unique off-road rally was co-created by promoter Mike Pearlman to consist of special stages (unlimited speed timed stages in the dirt) linked together by controlled speed liaison / transit sections (highway). The one-of-a-kind, once-a-year, four-day rally includes vintage off-road vehicles and motorcycles, as well as modern desert Rally Raid cars, pre-runner trucks, buggies and motorcycles.

Pearlman's late father Ed and others established the first running of the NORRA Mexican 1000 off-road rally in November of 1967, which eventually became internationally recognized and evolved into the Baja 1000 in the mid-1970's.